Local authorities gathered Friday for a news conference to discuss new leads in the investigation into the kidnapping and murders of four children in the 1970s.

Michigan State Police, joined by Oakland County Prosecutors and assisting police agencies, hosted the conference at the MSP Oak Park Post. Investigators are optimistic about a new tip in the case, but they would not discuss the details of the lead, Rescue 4's Kevin Dietz reported.

Among those present at the meeting was Barry King, the father of Timothy, the last of the four children to be killed.

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Tips: Do you have information that may lead to an arrest? Call authorities at (248) 584-5755. Callers who do not wish to speak with police can contact Rescue 4 at (313) 223-CALL4.

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Timothy King, 11, was kidnapped on March 16, 1977, outside a Birmingham pharmacy.

Mark Stebbins, 12, was abducted while walking to his Ferndale home in February of 1976.

Jill Robinson, 12, of Royal Oak, disappeared on Dec. 22, 1976.

Eleven days later, 10-year-old Kristin Mihelich was abducted from a convenience store in Berkley.

The killer kept the children alive for several days, feeding and bathing them, Rescue 4 reported. The boys were sexually assaulted. Three of the children were suffocated to death.

All of them were redressed in their original clothes and their bodies were dumped along local roads.

Police said after King's murder, the killer -- a man believed to be driving a blue AMC Gremlin -- disappeared.

A break in the case came in 1999 when investigators traveled to Recluse, Wyo., where the body of a primary suspect, David Norberg, was exhumed.

Norberg died in a car crash in 1981. Among his possessions was a cross, believed to belong to one of the victims.

DNA evidence did not link Norberg to the killings, but he remains a suspect.

Rescue 4 undercover video captured authorities loading filing cabinets into a truck Thursday to be taken to a site and inspected by a multi-jurisdictional task force.

Police said they have about 99,000 names in a tip drawer and numerous witness composite sketches.

"There are thousands of names (and) tips that we have. It could be there," said Ray Anger, of the Berkley Police Department.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson was the prosecutor during the time of the murders.

"It's still ongoing, years later, from the late '70s until now and if a good clue comes in, the state police will go after them," Patterson said.

Patterson said he hopes the new leads, along with new technology, will reveal the identity of the killer.

Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest is asked to call (248) 584-5755.